TY - JOUR
T1 - Interpretational paradox, implicit normativity, and human nature : revisiting weakness of will from a perspective of comparative philosophy
AU - ZHENG, Yujian
PY - 2017/6
Y1 - 2017/6
N2 - This essay critiques or engages a wide range of existing works on the ancient and well-contested issue of weakness of will, from a new perspective of comparative philosophy combined with a focus on a largely neglected Davidsonian paradox of irrationality. It aims at revealing the interplay between the descriptive and the normative in the very notion of critical interpretation, as well as a special relation between holding-true and making-true which helps to explain the non-accidentalness of the descriptive coat of the Plato Principle and some of the Mencian paradigmatic tenets. By the same token, it also sheds light on some holistic picture about a certain implicit type of dynamic normativity, which seems evidently applicable to, for example, the Mencius-Xunzi 荀子 dispute on human nature, but scarcely noticed or articulated in contemporary contexts of comparative philosophy.
AB - This essay critiques or engages a wide range of existing works on the ancient and well-contested issue of weakness of will, from a new perspective of comparative philosophy combined with a focus on a largely neglected Davidsonian paradox of irrationality. It aims at revealing the interplay between the descriptive and the normative in the very notion of critical interpretation, as well as a special relation between holding-true and making-true which helps to explain the non-accidentalness of the descriptive coat of the Plato Principle and some of the Mencian paradigmatic tenets. By the same token, it also sheds light on some holistic picture about a certain implicit type of dynamic normativity, which seems evidently applicable to, for example, the Mencius-Xunzi 荀子 dispute on human nature, but scarcely noticed or articulated in contemporary contexts of comparative philosophy.
KW - Critical interpretation
KW - Implicit normativity
KW - Paradox of irrationality
KW - Weakness of will
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85017123416&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11712-017-9544-z
DO - 10.1007/s11712-017-9544-z
M3 - Journal Article (refereed)
SN - 1540-3009
VL - 16
SP - 145
EP - 163
JO - Dao : A Journal of Comparative Philosophy
JF - Dao : A Journal of Comparative Philosophy
IS - 2
ER -